Men's Swimming & Diving

Swimmers Move Up at NEISDA Championships

WHITE RIVER JUNCTION, VT-The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth swimmers moved up and got a record-breaking performance on the second day of action at the three-day New England Intercollegiate Swimming and Diving Association Division II and III Championships at the Upper Valley Aquatic Center Friday.

The women are now tied for 11th in a 22-team field with 217 points, while the men ranked fourth in a 13-team field with 231 points. Keene State is first in both fields.

For the men, junior Craig Johnson (Acushnet, MA/New Bedford HS) broke the school record when he finished third in the 50 yard butterfly in 23.91 seconds. Freshman Jake Pesante (Wakefield, RI/South Kingston HS) was ninth in the 200 yard freestyle relay in 1:49.64, freshman Chris Dodge (Holden, MA/Wachusett Regional HS) was ninth in the 100 yard backstroke in 58.12 seconds, junior Steve Szarek (Middletown, CT/Middletown HS) was fifth in the 100 yard breaststroke in 1:02.10, the 200 yard medley relay team of Dodge, Szarek, Johnson and freshman Matt Dean (Londonderry, NH/Londonderry HS) was fourth in 1:43.40, and the 800 yard freestyle relay team of Pesante, junior Andrew Haughey (West Springfield, MA/West Springfield HS), Dodge and Johnson was fifth in 7:30.44.

For the women, freshman Morgan Cooper (Sunderland, MA/Frontier Regional HS) was sixth in the 50 yard butterfly in 28.43 seconds, freshman Maggie Conlon (Methuen, MA/Methuen HS) was 12th in the 100 backstroke in 1:05.66 and 13th in the 100 breaststroke in 1:13.50, senior Kathleen Foley (Haverhill, MA/Haverhill HS) was seventh in the 100breaststroke in 1:11.63, and sophomore Kim Moore (Billerica, MA/Billerica HS) was third in the 1000 yard freestyle in 11:18.41.

"We are swimming real well," said UMass Dartmouth Head Coach Cathy Motta. "We have some strong swims left for tomorrow. I'm really proud of how we are performing as a team I feel that all of our hard work and training is certainly paying off."